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LSU loses to Notre Dame in final seconds of Music City Bowl

The Irish (8-5) won despite allowing a spectacular afternoon to LSU freshman tailback Leonard Fournette, who led all rushers with 143 yards on 11 carries with an 89-yard touchdown run for a 28-21 lead with 6:14 to play in the third quarter.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 22 LSU lost a game and apparently a defensive coordinator on Tuesday at the Music City Bowl, falling to unranked Notre Dame, 31-28, on a field goal as time expired and as John Chavis probably coached his last game at LSU before becoming Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator.

Notre Dame’s Kyle Brindza kicked a 32-yard field for the victory to cap off a dominating afternoon of 449 yards against a Chavis defense that entered the game No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference and No. 8 in the nation in total defense with 305 yards allowed a game.

The Irish (8-5) won despite allowing a spectacular afternoon to LSU freshman tailback Leonard Fournette, who led all rushers with 143 yards on 11 carries with an 89-yard touchdown run for a 28-21 lead with 6:14 to play in the third quarter. Fournette also returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and 14-14 tie with 10:52 to go in the second quarter.

The Irish (8-5) dominated Chavis’ defense from their opening possession on and moved 71 yards in 14 plays for the game-winning points. Notre Dame, which had lost five of its previous six games, put together four ball controlling, touchdown drives of 59 yards or more and held the ball for 37 minutes against Chavis’ vaunted defense, which also allowed 11 third down conversions in 17 attempts.

“It was amazing to me,” LSU coach Les Miles said of the Irish’ third down prowess.

He seemed as awestruck about losing Chavis, whom Miles hired after the 2008 season from Tennessee. LSU’s defense has been among the best in the SEC under Chavis practically ever since.

“I’m told that that’s the case,” Miles said when asked if recent media reports about Chavis leaving LSU for more money as Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator are true. Then he talked of Chavis at LSU in the past tense.

“I can tell you, John Chavis was very productive for us,” Miles said. “He had a great career at LSU. We understand he was unsigned. We understand why.”

Reports of Chavis possibly going to Texas A&M began weeks ago shortly after Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin fired struggling defensive coordinator Mark Snyder days after the struggling offense of LSU put up 491 yards in a 23-17 win at Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night. LSU has offered Chavis approximately $1.3 million a year to stay on, but Chavis wants to make as much money as newly hired Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who is making approximately $1.7 million a year. Sumlin and Texas A&M apparently have come up with the number Chavis wants.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m going to go pitch him again,” Miles said. “I like John Chavis.”

So does LSU safety Dwayne Thomas, who sat out the Music City Bowl with a knee injury but tweeted support for Chavis following the game. “He deserves to be paid, and we (LSU) should match any and everything they (Texas A&M) put up,” Thomas said.

Miles was asked if it looks bad for the LSU program that it would lose a key assistant to a rival SEC school. “I don’t know how it looks, nor do I give a damn,” Miles said. “At LSU, we’ll have a great defense. We’ll have a great defensive coordinator.”

Chavis met with reporters after the game but had little to say and grew irritated when the questions about Texas A&M kept coming. “I told you I’m not talking about it,” Chavis said.

Asked if his players were distracted by Chavis considering Texas A&M during bowl game preparations, Chavis said his players were not.

“I can be an ugly (expletive deleted),” Chavis said. “I don’t want to be that tonight. I just want to talk about the game.”

LSU, which finished the season at 8-5, did not have the Chavis defense it had to close the 2014 regular season whether distracted or not. Notre Dame, a 10-point underdog, took the opening kickoff 66 yards in 15 plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Malik Zaire to wide receiver Will Fuller. The Irish rushed for 263 yards – more than any LSU opponent since Auburn beat the Tigers 41-7 on Oct. 4.

Notre Dame drove 75 yards in 11 plays for a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter and 59 yards in 10 plays for a 21-14 lead with 6:12 to go in the first half.

“We played hard. We played for four quarters,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “Really, the mantra for us was, ‘Get this in the fourth quarter and find a way to win.’ We certainly did that. We controlled the ball for the last five and a half minutes.”

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings, who hit 7 of 14 passes for 151 yards, found wide receiver John Diarse on a 75-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21-21 early in the third quarter. Fournette put LSU up 28-21 with his 89-yard touchdown, but LSU’s defense immediately gave up a 50-yard touchdown run to wide receiver C.J. Prosise on a reverse for the 28-28 tie.

“We had a good pass rush, and they would go by it,” a frustrated Miles said. “Even when we got to the quarterback, he let it go.”

Zaire led Notre Dame with 96 yards on 22 carries and completed 12 of 15 passes for 96 yards. Everett Golson, the regular starting quarterback, came off the bench to complete 6 of 11 for 90 yards. Tailback Tarean Folston gained 73 yards on 21 carries.

LSU was about to tie the game at 21-21 in the final seconds of the first half when Miles called a fake field goal on fourth-and-goal from the Notre Dame 2. Holder Brad Kragthorpe kept the snap and apparently scored up the middle when he lifted the ball across the goal line, but officials ruled that it was not a touchdown after a review. His knees may have touched the ground before the ball crossed, but there was not a clear replay of that.

“It’s not nice to hear that ESPN drew a line, and they did this, and they said, ‘Certainly, it’s seven points,’” Miles said. “That’s the information we got in our locker room. The guy that carried the ball (Kragthorpe) said he absolutely scored. Kids will be kids, but this guy is going to tell the truth. He’s going to tell it to you straight.”

In the end, though, it was likely LSU’s defense with its outgoing defensive coordinator that provided the difference in the game. Notre Dame turned in its best rushing game of the season since a 48-17 win over Rice in its opener.

“I felt like we would defend them better than we did,” Miles said. “We did the things offensively that we should have done. We did not stop Notre Dame.”

And Miles may not be able to stop Chavis from leaving.

“I’m going to kind of keep that business internal,” Miles said when asked if he will lose Chavis over a few hundred thousand dollars. “That’s all I’m going to say.”